Lachlan McCaffrey eyeing top-four finish for Leicester Tigers

February 28, 2017

16:03

Leicester Tigers No.8 Lachlan McCaffrey is eyeing the top four after his side inflicted Harlequins’ first home loss of the Aviva Premiership Rugby season but insists Tigers must improve every week if they are to make the play-offs.

McCaffrey helped Tigers record a 24-point second-half haul which handed Quins a 27-18 loss, and dragged Leicester to within just a point of Bath Rugby in fourth place.

Although they and Bath are set to do battle in round 19 at he start of April, McCaffrey admits his side are still seeking a complete performance ahead of their clash with Exeter Chiefs at Welford Road on Friday night.

And he has revealed that nothing less than a top-four finish will do for the Tigers.

“Our goal is top four as a minimum and although we are out of it at the moment, we are building toward it in the right way and the right time of year,” said McCaffrey.

“We are concentrating on performing better week on week.

“We can’t worry about what Bath do, we need to beat Exeter at Welford Road and if that puts us in the top four come the end of the weekend, then so be it.

“Exeter Chiefs have a huge amount of attacking threats across the park and they like to keep the ball in play for long periods of time to get phases together.

“They are a well-structured and balanced team so we need to make sure that we are defensively up for it on Friday night.”

The Australian back-rower believes that continual improvement will see his side into the play-off spots come the end of the season.

But McCaffrey is adamant they must convert more of their try-scoring opportunities as they approach the business end of the cmaaign.

And has highlighted the running threats of Telusa Veainu and JP Pietersen as the key to any success.

“We know that we can’t have anymore slip-ups after going through a bit of a rough patch and we are confident that if we play as best we can in the remaining six games, then we will make the play-offs,” added McCaffrey.

“We are still searching for that 80-minute complete performance. Our defence has been really good and our attack has been great with guys like Telusa and JP.

“We are scoring a lot of points at the moment, so hopefully this Friday night we can find that complete performance.”

Leicester host Exeter on Friday night and victory will see them leapfrog Bath into fourth in the Aviva Premiership table before the West Country side take on league-leaders Wasps on Saturday.